


Crashed Not Burning

by GemmaRose



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Black Paladin Shiro (Voltron), Fix-It, M/M, Relationship Discussions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-28
Updated: 2019-04-28
Packaged: 2020-02-08 19:26:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,512
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18629752
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GemmaRose/pseuds/GemmaRose
Summary: In Which Gays Are Not Buried And Talk Things Out Like Sensible Adults





	Crashed Not Burning

**Author's Note:**

> This was written as part of the free digital adashi zine [Confirmed Lovers](https://confirmedloverszine.tumblr.com/post/184482165901/). I highly recommend taking a look at it, the other contributors worked really hard on their pieces! (Also [there's merch~](https://confirmedloverszine.tumblr.com/post/184490813656/))

Shiro groaned, picking himself up off the metal floor. “Sound off.” he called, lifting his bayard-arm to rub at a sore spot that would surely develop into an impressive bruise on his temple in the next few hours.

“Can I just say, I've never crashed an _actual_ ship that badly.” Lance groaned, pushing himself upright in Shiro's peripheral vision. “At least nothing's broken.”

“Are we not counting the water planet?” Hunk asked, and Shiro rolled his eyes when Lance retaliated with a kick. If they were well enough to tease each other, then at worst they were a little bruised. _Maybe_ a sprain, but nothing bad enough to take them out of commission if they had to fight.

“Our armour seems to have taken the worst of the damage.” Pidge reported as they sat up, legs curling sideways under them.

“I- concur.” Allura grunted, pressing a hand to her side as she rose to her knees. “Coran, Romelle, are you alright?”

“Just fine, Princess.” Coran answered with his usual chipper tone, and Romelle nodded as she tried to pull her hair out of her face.

“How's Kosmo?” Keith asked as he came in from the cockpit. The space wolf barked and wagged its tail, and Shiro grinned at the sight of Keith's evident relief. Who knew a dog would do the kid so much good?

“So, how far are we walking?” Lance asked, getting to his feet and offering Hunk a hand up.

“Farther than I'd like, after that crash.” he grimaced and pressed a hand to his stomach. Shiro winced in sympathy as the reminder that most of the alien spaceships they'd been in so far, this one included, lacked seatbelts. “I was aiming for the Garrison itself, but this ship's not meant to hold more than _maybe_ three people. The engines redlined as soon as we hit atmo.”

Shiro nodded once, getting to his feet as Keith helped Romelle up and Allura pulled Pidge to stand with an ease that he suspected would never grow old. “Pidge, what time is it?”

They glanced at their HUD, opened their mouth, then shut it again. “One sec, lemme-” they opened up one of the hip pouches on their belt and pulled out their phone. “Uh, just past 13:00.” a grin split their face as they tucked the phone back in their pocket. “Hours, not vargas.”

“I guessed.” Shiro chuckled, and gestured for Keith to open the back hatch of the ship. As cool as his new arm was, it did mean he couldn't operate galra tech anymore. A small price to pay, really. “If we're walking, we should start now.”

“Yes, Sir.” Keith grinned, and tapped the operation panel to let them all out.

\---

An hour of walking, a firefight with some galra robots, and a very timely rescue later found Shiro sitting shotgun in the second of the two Garrison ATVs which had arrived to pick them up. He would've preferred to be in the first one, with the other Paladins, but agreeing to take the other car had been faster than arguing with Keith about who called shotgun first. “It's good to have you back, Sir.” the driver said, and Shiro nodded distractedly, eyeing the orange energy shield as they approached. He'd not given Commander Holt anything but a joke-threat for Iverson when he was returning to Earth, and at the time it had seemed reasonable. After all, they'd been planning to come back once they took down the Empire, he could've said what he wanted to then.

Of course, that hadn't happened, and between the temporal displacement and the time they'd spent _getting_ here... by Pidge's calculations it had been three and a half years since their battle with Lotor. Plus a year beforehand of being Paladins, and for him another year due to the disastrous Kerberos mission. Five and a half years. He'd be lucky if Adam was even still _here_ , let alone willing to listen to him.

They rolled into the Garrison without incident, and Shiro scanned the small crowd which had assembled to greet them. He recognised most of the faces, but not all, and none of them were the one he was looking for. It made sense, he supposed. Adam had made it quite clear that he wouldn’t be there waiting when the Kerberos mission returned, and it had been some time since then. Hell, he probably had another boyfriend by now.

“Shiro?” Coran's touch on his organic elbow was gentle, his voice soft.

“I'm fine, Coran.” he said, but didn't shake off the touch. “Just, thought someone might be here.”

“Ah.” Coran gave his elbow a gentle squeeze, and Shiro made a mental note to thank Coran later. Also to introduce him to some of the veterans on the command staff, he had a feeling they'd have great fun swapping old stories.

Pidge was, unsurprisingly, the first out of the car ahead of them when it stopped. Colleen wept openly as she hugged them, and Shiro kept his eyes on Allura and Romelle as he helped them down from the vehicle. The Holts had enough sets of prying eyes on them without his being one of them.

“Commander Shirogane.” a familiar voice drew his attention, and Shiro stood straighter as he turned to face Iverson. “It's good to see you again.”

“It's great to see you too, Sir.” Shiro said with a reflexive salute. “Allow me to introduce you to our altean allies.” he stepped aside and gestured for Allura to introduce herself.

“Princess Allura.” she said, chin held high as she stepped forward and extended a hand. Iverson took it, and Shiro bit back a grin as Allura demonstrated her alien strength with a grip he knew from experience toed the fine line between firm and crushing. “This is Coran, my advisor, and Romelle, a... friend.”

“The honour is mine.” Iverson said, flexing his fingers when Allura released his hand. “Your technology was invaluable in protecting this small corner of Earth.”

Coran beamed, and as Iverson turned on Keith Shiro took one last look over the assembled crowd. Lance and Hunk were talking with some of their peers, a handful of whom seemed to be civilians rather than students. Pidge was still crying in their parents' arms, Bae Bae licking their face and wagging so hard his whole body wiggled. He was about to look away when there was a shift in the rough line, like someone was shoving through the crowd, and Shiro's breath caught in his throat as a man in half a Garrison uniform shouldered between two older cadets. Half his face was dominated by a sprawling scar, the eye it cut through pale and obviously unseeing. His arm on the same side bore matching marks, thick lines of pale tissue criss-crossing his tan skin all the way down to where his arm _ended_ halfway from the elbow to the wrist, and his leg... his leg was a prosthetic, straps holding it in place at his mid-thigh and the bottom looking like nothing so much as a peg leg with a spring in the middle. It was higher tech than that of course, the Garrison didn't skimp on treatment for their wounded, but the ease with which he walked on it spoke to plenty of experience.

What had happened while they were gone? Aside from- oh. Oh, no. The pieces fell into place suddenly, and Shiro's heart fairly skipped a beat in his chest. Adam wouldn't've been able to stay back while Sendak attacked, he would've been out in the thick of it, trying to help people. The stump of his arm under the port for his old prosthetic ached as Shiro lifted his eyes from the prosthetic leg to Adam's face, and promptly cringed inside at the mask of rage set upon it. At a second look Adam's whole body was taut with it, shoulders shaking, remaining hand curled in a fist, even his stride was an angry one, and he'd chased down Adam after enough arguments to know that for sure.

“Adam.” he said as evenly as he could manage, and Adam's hand flashed out. He could've stopped it easily, he'd fought faster in the arena and the arm Black provided him with her bayard was just as responsive as any flesh and blood limb, but he didn't move a muscle. Adam's palm striking his cheek was unexpected, but he let his head snap sideways with the force of it regardless.

“You _asshole!_ ” he shouted, going to grab the front of Shiro's shirt like he always did when he was angry and venting. His fingers slid over smooth armour instead, and after a brief moment of confusion he snagged Shiro by the collar and pulled him down, getting right in his face. Shiro swallowed hard, breath stalling in his throat. “Do you have any idea how _worried_ we've been for your dumb ass? You send Commander Holt back with data and messages and then _vanish?_ ”

“Does it make it any better if I blame the galra for that?” he asked, and Adam made that familiar frustrated sound as he yanked Shiro's face closer to his.

“If we weren't in public-” he growled, and this time Shiro's heart thudded painfully against his ribs.

“You said we were over.” he breathed, and Adam released his armour to take a step back, arms crossing.

“I said not to count on it.” he muttered, and Shiro sighed.

“Shiro.” Keith's voice snapped his focus away from Adam, and he looked over to see Commander Holt giving him an indulgent grin. Keith just looked exasperated though, and Shiro guessed they'd tried to get his attention at least once already. “Iverson's taking us to a meeting room for a full debrief.”

“Right. Lead the way.” he gestured for Keith and Sam to go first, and relief washed through him when Adam fell in step beside him, bringing up the rear of the group heading for the meeting room. Keith took a few strides to catch up with Pidge, and Commander Holt gave him a knowing look before hurrying forward to walk with his wife and their dog alongside Pidge. He glanced over at Adam, then down at his hand, swinging idly as he walked. If he reached out, would Adam push him away? He hadn't said yet what he properly meant by “not to count on it” and, well, if he were honest Shiro hadn't really thought he'd get half this far. He had wanted to tell Adam about the things he'd seen and done in space; reconciliation, the possibility of Adam wanting anything potentially more-than-friendly to do with him? He hadn't even considered it as an option.

Warm fingers threaded between his own, and he looked down at his hand to see Adam's grasping it firmly, like he was afraid Shiro would run off again if he let go.

“I missed you.” he said softly, keeping his voice low enough even Keith's galra hearing wouldn't pick it up over the chatter coming from the Holts.

“I missed you too.” Adam said, thumb tracing idly around Shiro's knuckle.

“What happened?” he asked, and Adam's lips quirked up in a brief flash of a grin.

“To me, or to Earth?”

“Both.”

Adam chuckled and shook his head. “Well, all this is from the galra.” he raised his free arm to gesture at his scarred face with the half-amputated forelimb. “They attacked, and I was _going_ to get in a fighter and shoot some down myself-”

“Adam!” Shiro gasped. “You're a mechanic!”

“I know, I know.” he made a dismissive motion with his free arm. “I also, as the cadet who pulled me back so brashly reminded me, wear glasses. Not exactly pilot material. I stuck outside to be on the ground team, though. Pulled that kid out of the plane when it crashed.” his shoulders slumped, mouth pulling down in a frown Shiro once would've done his damnedest to kiss away. “Not that it did much good. The plane exploded, knocked me out, did all this.” he waved his scarred arm around again. “Cadet Trandell didn't make it.”

Shiro squeezed Adam's hand, just a quick little press of his fingers into the spaces between Adam's. “I'm so sorry.”

“After that, I was on bedrest for a while. It gave me time to think, and I realized-” he paused to take a deep breath, and Shiro let him pull his hand away when he tugged gently. “I realized, I was unfair to you.” Adam said, his eyes fixed somewhere ahead of them. “I tried to make you choose between me and your dream, because **I** was afraid, and I was angry that you weren't. I should've trusted you to know your own limits, and I didn't.” he exhaled heavily and looked over at Shiro, his expression solemn. “I'm sorry, Takashi.”

“For what it's worth, I'm sorry too.” Shiro tore his eyes from Adam's face as he felt a blush crawl over his cheeks. “I should've told Commander Holt to tell you...” he trailed off and shook his head slightly, looking back over at Adam. “I should've made sure you knew I was okay. Relationship or not, you're one of the best friends I've ever had.”

“I know things have changed but, I do still love you.” Adam said softly, almost below Shiro's range of hearing. “If you're still interested...”

Shiro's cheeks flamed, and he lifted a hand to rub at where his bayard-arm met his shoulder. “I've changed too, Adam.” he responded in equal volume. “I was on Sendak's ship for most of a year, I fought in their gladiatorial arena.” He sucked a breath in through his teeth and exhaled slowly through his nose, pushing down the simmering morass of half-defined memories which even now threatened to rise up and swallow him when he thought too hard about that missing chunk of time. “I was good at it. Good enough that when my arm seized up in a fight, they did more than just slap a new one on.” he glanced over, and saw the realisation dawn on Adam's face. The awed expression was quickly replaced by determination though, and Adam lifted a hand to grip his elbow.

“You survived.” Adam said firmly, and Shiro swore he could feel the warmth of Adam's fingers even through the space-grade insulated flight suit. “You came back.”

“I did.” Shiro grinned, lowering his hand from the base of his prosthetic to catch Adam's. “And y'know what? I think I've had more than enough of space for one lifetime. Once we've dealt with Sendak, I'm going to find someone new to pilot Black.”

“You'd do that?” Adam's eyes widened, and Shiro nodded.

“I can't promise it'll be fast, but I can promise that I'll not stop looking until I find someone.”

“Well, if there's no time limit on us anymore, you can take as long as you need.” Adam grinned, giving his hand a gentle squeeze. “So long as you come home in the end.”

“I can do that.”


End file.
